


Patience-Verse Drabbles

by C_R_Scott



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: F/M, patience verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-24 06:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C_R_Scott/pseuds/C_R_Scott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabbles inspired by LectorEl's "Patience verse" series, where Tim Drake and Prudence end up in the quite unique situation of being married with a teenage daughter nearly two decades removed from their previous lives as vigilante and assassin. </p>
<p>Before reading these drabbles, I suggest checking out the link below to the original work that inspired these. Otherwise, these may not make much sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dear Mr. Janson...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LectorEl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LectorEl/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Patience Verse Background](https://archiveofourown.org/works/618077) by [LectorEl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LectorEl/pseuds/LectorEl). 
  * Inspired by [Patience Janson-Summers and the awful(ly embarrassing) truth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/618072) by [LectorEl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LectorEl/pseuds/LectorEl). 



> CR: This is a flashback set several years prior to "Patience Janson-Summers and the awful(ly embarrassing) truth" (link above)

They should’ve been in bed already. The hours was late, the night was cold, and tomorrow promised to be an extremely busy day with a very early start. However, just an hour earlier a letter had arrived that made sleep the least of Tim and Prue’s concerns.

“So,” Tim said, leaning against the kitchen counter, the steam from his cup of coffee fogging up his glasses.

“So,” Prue echoed, cupping her own coffee as she leaned her elbows on the island opposite her husband. “The curse is finally lifted.”

“That’s what the letter says.”

“Do you feel any different?”

“Not really.”

“But things will be different, now, right?”

“Do they have to be?”

Prue lifted her eyes from the innocuous-seeming letter resting on the island in between the two of them and turned her gaze to Tim, who was already looking pointedly at her.

“Are you serious? Do you still want to keep your family out of our lives completely?”

Tim looked out the window that was situated just over the kitchen sink, staring out into the darkness and watching as large flakes of snow floated past the beam of light of a nearby street lamp.

Prue sighed and frowned. ”Sometimes, I really don’t understand you. Let me make it perfectly clear, I don’t mind keeping the Bats out of our belfry, so to speak. However, I would understand if you wanted to reconnect with them. They are your family, after all.”

“You and Patience are my family.”

Prue felt a lump rise to her throat. Tim had made the statement with such finality, as if it were set in stone and framed in steel, that it caught her off-guard. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. ”What are you saying?”

Tim removed his glasses. Without them, he looked like a totally different person.

He looked younger.

Stronger.

Dangerous.

He looked like the man he used to be.

Less an intellectual…

…More a bird of prey.

Though she would never admit it, when Tim looked like this, it made Prue’s heart flutter, just a little.

“You and Patience mean the world to me,” Tim clarified slowly, seriously. ”More than the world, in fact. If keeping the two of you safe and sound meant setting the Earth on fire, I’d gladly throw gasoline on the flames and watch it all burn to the ground. I’d do anything to protect you two, and that level of anything isn’t exactly kosher in the Bats’ code of conduct.”

A small smile slowly crept up on Prudence’s face as she propped her chin up with one hand and cocked her head coyly to one side. ”You know, a lesser woman might be rather appalled by the idea that her husband would see the world destroyed to protect his family.”

Tim smirked sardonically. ”But my wife is not a lesser woman, is she?”

Prue snickered. “Furthest thing from it, and you damn well know it.”

“You’re turned on right now, aren’t you?”

“Oh you have no idea.”

Tim shook his head with a chuckle. ”Besides, you know the kind of lives they live and enemies they have. I don’t want any of that for our daughter. She deserves a normal life… Or, at the very least, as normal a life as the two of us as her parents can give to her, all things considered.”

Then he paused as he heard something. Prudence heard it too. It wasn’t any cause for alarm, though. They knew the soft footsteps sneaking quietly down the stairs entirely too well. They rested there in the kitchen in silence for a moment before Tim finally broke it.

“Patience Janson-Summers,” he said in a stern, paternal tone without even turning to the stairwell. ”What are you doing out of bed?”

The footsteps froze, and slowly, guiltily, a tiny four-year old dark haired girl poked her head around the wall to peer into the kitchen. ”I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted. ”So I wanted to stay up and see Santa.”

Prue and Tim shared an amused look before Prue straightened up to eye their daughter pointedly. ”Santa doesn’t work that way, sweetie. He won’t visit until everyone’s asleep.” She walked over the slightly dejected child. ”Now come on. Time to get your tail back into bed.”

Patience gave her mother a rather offended look. It was a look Prue often used, with great effectiveness, to strike trepidation in the hearts of people who annoyed her, but which only looked hilarious coming from a four-year old. ”I don’t have a tail! I have a butt!”

Tim, who had been in the midst of taking a sip from his cooling coffee, nearly choked on it. As Tim struggled slightly to find some balance between clearing his windpipe and laughing, Prue put her hands on her hips in mock indignation even as she couldn’t hide her own beaming smile. ”You cheeky little imp,” she said with amusement as she lifted the child up and nuzzled her, drawing a peal of laughter from the girl.

“Your daughter, Prue.”

“Oh shut up you.” There was no heat at all to Tim and Prue’s banter as she held Patience close to her chest, the small girl wrapping her arms around her mother’s neck, and walked over to Tim. ”Tell your Dad good night before we go upstairs to tuck in.”

“G’night Daddy,” Patience said with a shy smile and warm, sparkling eyes before giving him a tiny kiss on the cheek.

“Good night, Princess,” Tim said as he returned the kiss in kind. Then, before Prue could escape, he surprised her a quick, stolen kiss on the lips. Even as Prudence’s face reddened slightly, she smirked at her husband before taking their daughter and heading back up the stairs.

Once both his girls were out of sight, Tim’s expression sobered as he turned his attention back to the letter on the island. He picked it up and scanned over its contents one more time as he walked into the living room, past the cheerfully decorated Christmas tree, and stood before the fireplace. He committed the words to memory, then looked up at the line of photographs and mementos resting on top of the mantle.

“It’s better this way,” he thought to himself with a sigh. Then he fed the letter into the fireplace and watched solemnly as the flames quickly devoured it. ”Merry Christmas, everyone,” Tim whispered under his breath. ”Wherever you all may be.”


	2. V-LOG Entry: PJS-001

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Christmas drabble set a few years prior to the start of LectorEl's first story in Patience-verse "Patience Janson-Summers and the awful(ly embarrassing) truth". Young Patience is now twelve years old and is recording her very first video log on her new phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CR: The format is different here, because the idea came to mind that Patience would want to experiment with the phone’s built in video camera. So I wrote it in a semi-script-like format.

**V-LOG Entry:**  PJS-001  
 **LOCATION:**  Home  
 **DATE-TIME:**   12/25/20xx - 16:42PM

_A 12-year old fair-skinned, blue eyed girl appears on the video screen.  She is wearing what looks like a cashmere white sweater over a black mock turtleneck shirt.  The appearance of a pre-teen girl’s bedroom is behind her. When she speaks, it’s with obvious delight._

**PATIENCE:**   Hi future self and/or family! This is me, Patience Janson-Summers, recording her very first V-LOG with the brand new smartphone Mom and Dad got me for Christmas!  I have the best parents EVER!

_From offscreen, a warm male voice catches Patience’s attention._

**TIM:**   You haven’t even had the phone for more than an hour, and you’re already chatting up your friends?

**PATIENCE:**   Oh, hi Dad.  I’m not talking to my friends.

**TIM:**   Then who—?

**PATIENCE:**   I’m starting a V-LOG.

_The girl turned the phone’s camera around, so Tim was on the screen.  He was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, looking very paternal as he watched Patience over the tops of his glasses._

**TIM:**   Really?  You’re not planning on putting it online, are you, because if you are your mother and I will need to discuss—

**PATIENCE:**   Oh, it’s not gonna be online, Dad.

**TIM:**   Just a video journal then?

**PATIENCE:**   Something like that.

**TIM:**   Mm-hmm… Ok, little girl, spill.

**PATIENCE:**   What?

_Tim made a motion with one hand._

**TIM:**   Ulterior motive. Give it up.

**PATIENCE:**   Oh Daddy—

**TIM:**   Patience…

**PATIENCE:**   *sigh* In school, before break, our teacher had us all write letters to our selves, ten years in the future. I kinda liked the idea of recording messages for myself and my future family so that… well…

**TIM:**  Well?

**PATIENCE:**   Well… so that when I have kids and if I start doing weird not-normal family stuff with them, I have proof that it’s because of the way you and mom raised me…

_The dark haired man raised an eyebrow at the camera._

**TIM:**   ”Not-normal?”  

_A slightly pained expression flickered across Tim’s face, but despite trying to mask it, Patience knew her father well enough to catch it._

**PATIENCE:**   Not in a bad way, Daddy!  I didn’t mean it like that.

_The video screen jostled around as the phone was tossed onto the bed.  Eventually it settled at an odd angle, partially catching sight of Patience hugging her father._

**PATIENCE:**   I love our family and all the stuff you and me and Mom do all the time.  But even you have to admit that a lot of it really is not-normal.

_Tim’s expression is soft as he strokes his little girl’s hair, a small contented smile tugging at his lips._

**TIM:**   Like?

**PATIENCE:**   Dad… Do I even need to bring up the way Mom makes “fruit salad”?

_Father and daughter stared at each other for a moment before Tim couldn’t help but chuckle._

**TIM:**   Alright.  Point made.

_He planted a kiss on the top of her head before letting Patience go._

**TIM:**   Wrap up your V-Log and then get yourself downstairs.  Your uncles will be here any minute, and you know they will want your undivided attention.

_Patience beamed at him as she watched him head out of her room.  Then she went over to her bed, picked up her phone, and looked straight into the camera._

**PATIENCE:**   Hmmm… I guess one day I’ll have to explain the whole “fruit salad” thing.  It’s actually a lot of fun, but it really is not normal.  But that’ll hafta wait for another day.  Laters!

_And the screen winked to black._


	3. Notions of Matchmaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CR: A Patience-verse drabble for Lectorel. It’s set maybe a week or so after the Christmas scene “Death in the Morning” (archiveofourown.org/works/618096).

It was late in the evening when Talia found her father. Ra’s was standing on a balcony overlooking the common room of the secluded mountain retreat that served as both home and a secondary base for the League of Assassin. He was casually swirling a glass of wine as he gazed down at something Talia couldn’t quite see from her vantage point.

“What has captured your interest, Father?” she asked as she moved from the hallway onto the balcony to stand beside him. It wasn’t often that the two of them got along well enough to share the same country, let alone the same the same living space, but it was technically the holiday season and her son, Daniel, had requested it.

Talia had a working theory that her youngest son requested these “family reunions” just for his own general amusement.

Ra’s inclined his head towards the common room. Talia followed his gaze and raised her eyebrow at the scene below them.

Down in the common room, a dark-haired teenage girl was reclined on one of the luxurious chaise lounge sofas, surrounded by various text books. A high end digital tablet was resting in her lap, the fingertips of her right hand still resting on the keyboard and leaving several strings of letter m’s repeating across the screen.

The girl was fast asleep, her reading glasses still perched on the bridge of her nose.

That wasn’t what warranted a raised eyebrow from Talia, though.

What drew the raised eyebrow was Daniel.

Her teenage son, almost a man, was hovering over the girl with a fond expression. With a shake of his head, he gently reached out to slip the glasses from her face. She barely even budged, she was so deeply asleep. He folded them carefully and set them on the nearby end table, then followed suit with her tablet. Soon as that was done, he carefully gathered her up in his arms.

The girl stirred a little and her eyes fluttered open blearily for a brief moment in confusion. However once she was certain of who was carrying her, she frowned and muttered something in a sulky tone that sounded vaguely like, “We’ve gotta stop meeting like this…” 

It made her son chuckle. Daniel said something his mother couldn’t quite make out before carrying his less-than-pleased armful off towards the guest bedrooms.

A sound of amusement from her left drew Talia’s attention back to Ra’s. The smug look her father was wearing irked her. “What are you so pleased with yourself for?” she asked suspiciously. “And who’s child is that?” It was actually a question that had been plaguing Talia ever since she’d arrived at her father’s home. No one had been able to give her a straight answer, and her son seemed to delight in confounding her mother on the subject.

It wasn’t often that he had a chance to keep secrets from his mother.

“Her name is Patience,” Ra’s said with a smile and a purposefully cryptic tone. “And she is a visiting godchild. Her parents are currently away on business and I’m charged with her care until they return.”

“Godchild?” Talia didn’t even try to disguise the disbelief in her voice. “And who exactly are this girl’s parents? Far as I know, there is no one associated with the League in a position to have such an…” She paused for a moment to find the right word. “…ordinary child.”

“Ordinary?”

“She didn’t even notice Daniel hovering inches from her face while she slept. Either she was raised in an extremely sheltered environment or her training was far too lax and someone needs to be reprimanded.”

This observation seemed to amuse Ra’s, and he indulged in a short laugh. “Or perhaps she is just comfortable?” he offered. “Maybe she feels safe enough here to let her guard down?”

That drew a sharply raised, elegantly sculpted eyebrow. It lowered, in due course, as she narrowed her gaze. “Exactly what are you playing at, Father? Why did you look so pleased when you watched my son with her?”

“I was just mulling over a notion that, genetically, Daniel and Patience have a great deal of potential together,” Ra’s said as he turned his gaze down the hallway the two teenagers had gone down.

The idea of her father playing matchmaker for her son raised Talia’s hackles. “Do you honestly believe that this plain child is a match for my son?”

“With her pedigree, I believe Patience has potential.”

“And again, who are her parents?”

“No one you need to concern yourself with.”

The response to her question was made with such a note of finality that Talia knew she would gain no further answers from Ra’s on the matter. She swallowed her ire, though, and chose that moment to dismiss herself from her father’s presence. If she wanted any answers, she would have to go looking for them herself.


	4. V-LOG Entry: PJS-273

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (CR: Another video-log formatted scene. Another mental image that has gotten itself firmly stuck in my mind and won’t leave me alone till I get it written down. This is a week or two after Patience first meet Daniel here: archiveofourown.org/works/641807 )

“What are you looking at?” Daniel asked Patience as he happened upon the girl staring at her phone with a melancholy smile and her headphones on. She didn’t hear him at first, but something she saw made her giggle a little. The young man came up to her and waved a hand in front of her face.

“Oh! Hi Danny!” Patience said as she looked up at him and tugged out one of the earbuds.

Daniel smiled. There were very few people in the world who dared to call him “Danny,” and Patience was on the very short list of people he actually didn’t mind using the diminutive. “So what are you looking at there?”

“This?” Patience held up the phone, then sighed. “Just looking at some videos of my parents.” She gave him a side-eyed glance. “Would you like to see?”

Curiosity piqued, he nodded and moved to sit on the sofa beside her. “Sure.” Daniel had heard a great deal about Patience’s parents from his grandfather, the infamous Timothy Drake and Prudence, but he’d only ever seen pictures and surveillance videos from the past when they were both active in the field. 

She pulled out the earphones and turned up the volume on her phone. “This one is from last spring.”

—————

> **V-LOG Entry:**  PJS-273  
>  **LOCATION:**  Shooting Range  
>  **DATE-TIME:**   4/26/20xx - 8:15AM
> 
> _The video opens up to a bright spring day in the open field of a shooting range. It’s a clear open field, lined with targets at varying distances, with a dense forest in the far rear of the property. Though Patience is not on the screen, her voice chimes in._
> 
> **PATIENCE:**   *yawns* Good morning. It’s… April 26th and as you can see, we’re at the shooting range… Again… *pauses, then whines* Dad, do I have to be here? Can’t I just leave you guys the camera and go back home? For God’s sake, it’s 8am on a Saturday!
> 
> _The camera turns, and in the screen is Patience’s father. An older Tim, dressed in a short sleeved button down shirt and a pair of slacks, is pulling a couple of cases out of the trunk of a car. He glances at the camera with a sympathetic look._
> 
> **TIM:** *he takes a moment to nudge his glasses back up the bridge of his nose* And how, exactly, do you plan on getting back home, princess?
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  I— I’ll walk.
> 
> **TIM:**  *closes the trunk of the car and hikes the long straps of the cases onto his shoulder* It’s fifteen miles away.
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  I’ll hitchhike.
> 
> **TIM:**  *glances back at the camera with a deadpan expression before he walks off-screen* Over my dead body.
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  *whispers as she moves the camera back onto Tim, a little closer this time* What if we both sneak away while Mom’s not looking?
> 
> **TIM:**  *pauses and actually appears to give the offer some serious consideration*
> 
> **PRU:**  *from off-screen* Don’t even think about it, hun! We’re settling this once and for all!
> 
> **TIM:**  *sighs* You heard your mother. *then glances off-screen warily before whispering* But for the record, I think your mom has lost her mind.
> 
> **PRU:**  *off-screen* And for the record, I think your dad is a dirty, rotten liar.
> 
> **TIM:**  *exasperated sigh as he shoots an annoyed look off to his left* When, exactly, did I lie?
> 
> _As Tim and Prudence bicker in the background, Patience turns the camera onto herself. The teenager has shorter hair than the present, and it’s tied into a small, messy ponytail. Clearly, she wishes she were anywhere else but there._
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  As you can see, Mom and Dad are fighting. But because they’re not normal parents, they’re not arguing about normal stuff. Normal parents argue about money. *she starts ticking off on her fingers* Normal parents argue about work, housework, who’s turn it is to take their kid to softball practice… 
> 
> **PRU:**  *offscreen* You were holding back on me!
> 
> **TIM:**  *offscreen* No, I wasn’t!
> 
> **PRU:**  *offscreen* Liar!
> 
> **TIM:**  *offscreen* Oh for the love of—
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  *sighs and rolls her eyes* No… My parents are fighting about marksmanship. 
> 
> _She turns the camera back on her parents, who are still arguing as they’re setting things up. Tim setting up targets while Prudence it laying out firearms._
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  Y’see… Last month Mom talked Dad into a contest to see who was the better marksman in the family. Mom won, hands down, end of story. No surprise, right?
> 
> Or so we thought. Earlier this week, Mom saw Dad do… something… that has her convinced that he let her win… or at least didn’t try his best against her. So now they’re having a rematch, because Mom won’t be happy otherwise, and when Mom ain’t happy…
> 
> **TIM:**  Pru… C’mon! Think logically. You shoot guns all the time. Of course, you’re the better marksman.
> 
> **PRU:**  That may be true, but I still think you weren’t trying your hardest to beat me, and that is unacceptable!
> 
> **TIM:**  And why wouldn’t I do my best to try and beat you?!
> 
> **PRU:**  Because you wanted me to win!
> 
> **TIM:**  And that’s a bad thing?!
> 
> **PRU:**  Yes!
> 
> **TIM:**  *throws his hands up in the air* I give up!
> 
> **PRU:**  SEE! You’re doing it again!
> 
> **TIM:**  *glares at her in frustration* Are you kidding me?! You crazy woman—
> 
> **PRU:**  *jabs a finger at him as she yells* We wouldn’t be out here if you’d just treat me like your equal—!!!
> 
> **TIM:**  *slams down the target he’d been setting up as he tries to yell over her* As if I want to be equal in your over-obsessive competitive insani—!!!
> 
> _The camera jerks wildly._
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  Will the two of you just quit it! You’re both acting like children!
> 
> **TIM & PRU:** *gestures to the opposite person* HE/SHE STARTED IT!!!
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  Oh, I have had enough of this!
> 
> _The camera jerks around and everything else is a blur. There’s a sound of protest from Tim and a jangle of car keys._
> 
> **TIM:**  Patience?!
> 
> **PRU:**  Where are you going?!
> 
> _The camera finally settles on Tim and Prudence, looking very perplexed._
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  I’m going home! This is too much crazy to deal with this early in the morning. You can ground me later for taking the car when you’re both acting like grown ups again!
> 
> **TIM:**  Now just wait a minute, young lady—
> 
> **PRU:**  And how are we supposed to get home?
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  *with the sound of a grin in her voice* Oh, I’m sure Miss Abby would be more than happy to give you a lift.
> 
> _There is an obvious look of dismay on both Tim and Pru’s faces._
> 
> **TIM:**  Princess…
> 
> **PRU:**  Sweetie…
> 
> **PATIENCE:**  I’m not listening! La-lala-lala…!
> 
> _Despite the sound of both Tim and Prudence trying to call their daughter back, the car comes into view in the camera before the video comes to an end._

—————

Daniel blinked at the video screen. “Wow.” Then he looked over at Patience. “Did they argue like that all the time, over such trivial things?”

Patience smiled and shook her head. “Naw. Most of the time they get along really well. Mom’s just really competitive and Dad’s really not.”

“So what happened after the video? Is there more?”

“Ah… Well… There are no more videos for about two weeks after that.”

“Two weeks?”

The girl nodded sheepishly. “Yeah. When my folks eventually got home, they took away my phone for two weeks and I wasn’t allowed to drive anything, anywhere, for a month.” She snickered.

“I guess they worked things out?”

“Oh yeah. They always do.” Patience snickered. “Especially when they have to deal with their headstrong, impulsive,  _unlicensed_ teenager stealing their car right in front of them.”

Daniel stared at her for a moment before breaking out into laughter. Patience soon joined in.


End file.
